March 17, 2024 (EIRNS)—159 European civil society organizations and trade unions sent an urgent letter to EU officials, Prime Ministers of EU member-states, and Prime Ministers of the U.K. and Norway, expressing the urgent need to act in line with the ICJ ruling, to fulfil their obligations as third states and stop the genocide in Gaza. The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) on March 12, 2024 issued an urgent appeal. Signatories are from Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Palestine, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and U.K.
Here are excerpts, all emphasis is in the original:
“The undersigned organizations call upon the EU and all European countries to take an immediate step to halt the looming ground invasion of Israel into Rafah and force Israel to stop all acts of genocide by all means. There will be no other chance….
“We have noted that 26 EU member states have called for ‘an immediate humanitarian pause,’ which is a move ahead bypassing the consensus restriction, but falling far short of an urgently necessary lasting ceasefire. We reiterate the recent call by the European Parliament for an ‘immediate and permanent cease-fire.’
“Yet, {history tells us that such a call without any enforceable measures will not lead to compliance by the Israeli government. We call on you not to repeat the past mistake of meaningless reproaches while the Israeli government continues to pursue {fait accomplis.…
